Seven Devils
by Makilome
Summary: Willow/Jasper The God of War and the Dark One meet on the eve of the War against the First. Neither know that it is fate, or that Jasper has been lied to, till his Little Red shows up and Alice is forced to confess. After the killing of a mortal things are set in motion that can't be undone. Jazz must save his Ascended from herself, and LA calls Alice to her own true mate, Angel.
1. Chapter 1

**Seven Devils**

**Pairing: Willow/Jasper**

**No one he has ever come across has ever been more fustrating, more tempting! Her blood scent all over the dark town it had been so easy for them to blend into since Bella's turning was slowly driving him insane. The feel of her power surrounding her everytime he managed to get near is more intoxicating than anything he could ever imagine. He knows the story she told, wrote as fiction, was not fiction. Like them, she was there in college, pretending she was something she could never be again. And the closer he gets to the fascinating and beautiful Willow Rosenberg, the more and more Jasper finds himself returning, returning to who he truly was, who he was meant to be. He's pulling away from the Cullens and their lifestyle, becoming more and more like a joke to him the longer he spends time on the Hellmouth. And when she comes to him and tells him the secret, what she is, what she can do, at what lies beneath their feet that was coming for them all, how could he possibly deny her? Deny who and what he was and save the day going to war like the soldier he was?! Absolutely! And nothing the others can say will make him turn away from the war against the First. This is the end of Jasper Hale, and Willow Rosenberg as we know them. This is two people accepting their darksides, and the fact that they are truly mates. The Avatar of the Great Goddess, and her God of War.**

**Chapter One: Radioactive**

**I'm waking up to ash and dust**

**I wipe my brow and sweat my rust**

**I'm breaking in, the chemicals**

**I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison**

**This is it, the apocalypse**

**I'm waking up, feel it in my bones**

**Enough to make my systems blow**

**Welcome to the new age, to the new age**

**Welcome to the new age, to the new age**

**Whoah, whoah, I'm radioactive, radioactive**

**Whoah, whoah, I'm radioactive**

**I raise my flags, don my clothes**

**Its a revolution I suppose**

**We'll paint it red, to fit right in**

**I'm breaking in, shaping up, checking out on the prison bus**

**This is it, the apocalypse**

**I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones**

**Enough to make my systems blow**

**Welcome to the new age, to the new age**

**Welcome to the new age, to the new age**

**Whoah, whoah, I'm radioactive, radioactive**

**-excerpt from Radioactive by Imagine Dragons**

Alice has a vision of her husband's growing distance from her after a fight when he said it was time to leave the Cullens and find out who they were as a couple and out from under Carlisle's influence and Edward's mind games. The truth is, she knows he never agreed for Bella to join and resented Edward for all the danger he put them in because he couldn't sacrafice his love for her while everyone else had to give up everything for his happiness. And that argument over the power of love and sacrafice sent her Jazz over the edge and killing his first human in seventy years. It didn't matter to her whether the man was going to rape the girl or not! And there had been the blonde one with those shocking blue eyes, so understanding, helping him bury the dead. And then SHE came! The way his head snapped up, the way he looked at her, hunger, lust, and…. something else she couldn't place. And suddenly if she wanted to find him, she needed to look for the woman with all that power and the pixie fears for her marriage, and fears for Willow Rosenberg's life, and for Jazz's!

Willow's POV

She had been patroling with Spike again when she came upon the heartbreaking scene. Her heart instantly went out to the blonde daywalker, leaning over his kill, the serial rapist that had done more than his share of damage to the female populace of the Hellmouth, who already had something far worse to fear. The female, she had looked disgusted, horrified! Her gold eyes betrayed her to the powerful witch, and the darkness within was disgusted, too! Who the hell did she think she was to judge?! Just what was it did she think she was, a bunny?! Even Angel took care to get donated blood, and this girl didn't understand that a few more years of her diet would destroy her from the inside out! But in one second, from being broken to returning to the predator he was, his head snapped up and he trained his now ruby red eyes on her form. She stared right back, not an ounce of fear to be felt. If he was fast and strong enough, he might be able to kill her, and do this world a grand favor, and if he took his shot and got to her neck, she wouldn't do a damn thing to stop him. She deserved to die, after what she had done. After what happened to Terra, how she almost ended the world! He rose to his full height and as choice in killers goes, she'd pick this one everytime! There was a smirk on his face. He moved slowly, like a panther. He was almost in her space when Spike showed up behind her.

He cursed before pushing the younger vampire back. "Do you have a death wish?! That girl can end you with no more than a second and a thought! And she is just this side of the shade of grey, after all she's been through, you would be offering yourself as a platter to be tortured! And you, don't get me started on YOU pet! Just because those useless friends of yours can't see your value doesn't mean I don't, and I am not letting get that close to death, UNDERSTOOD?!" there was a moment shared between her and the young one, a dark understanding, a sharing of smiles. "This isn't finished." could be read in both of them before he gave a rather courtly bow. "I apologize for my behavior, ma'am. I am usually more sporting than that, and a lady of your standing deserves only my very best. I promise that you will have it, next time." something about the Texan draw sent shivers down her spine, and it seemed impossible from either one of them to look away from each other. "And you shall have mine, I assure you, daywalker. I promise I won't make it quick." It was a duel, a challenge, and a wide smile spread on both their faces. He took her pro-offered hand and gave it a cool kiss. "Your challenge is accepted. Name is Jasper." he said while the other, most likely his mate looked shocked and horrified and she fought the urge to snort, as did Spike behind her.

"You'll just have to use your detective skills to find out mine, Soldier Boy. And yes, I know who you are, and what you are. I know things about you that you don't know about you." A musical laugh fell out of his mouth and Willow was happy she had been so deeply schooled in vampires to not react or be overwhelmed by his beauty or his gift. And he seemed to like that, appreciate it. He was giving in to his darkside, something he hadn't done in all to long and it had taken a terrible toll. He needed to understand that it was useless to deny your nature, but that it can be put to good uses that leave you not hating yourself every day. Perhaps a friendship with Spike was more than needed for him and his coven. Said vamp rolled his eyes. "You AREN'T saddling me with Mr. Sparkles, Red!" he said annoyed. "But he's right up your alley, Just a decade younger than you, and he needs to understand what happens when you deny that side for to long. Hell, look what it did to me!" and she shuddered involuntary as did Spike. "That wasn't your fault, pet! It wasn't! That was their fault, they weren't there for you, they we'rent even trying to protect you when they forced you to give it up! And you have been remarkable taking it all in stride! Let the Slayer go to Hell where she belongs!" he growled out and she found herself in a familiar set of arms.

Soldier Boy strangely gazed on the scene, not liking Spike's arms around her, not at all, and he was to deep into his animal side to analyze why that was. Instead the other pixie finally spoke up. "The Slayer?!" she said, confusion flooding her features. THe blonde turned to her with a sinister look. "Oh yes, remember I told you long ago that not all humans were defenseless, some of them were gifted with the power of Death and you never believed me? To every generation a Slayer is born…." and Willow took over. "One girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will weild the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer." and her features became sad while she thought over again everything that one prophecy had cost her, what she had become. Sudden understanding, that connection that is between grade A predators lurged between them, and it was like no one was there but just them. "And she is why you came to be like this? I could give you time, everyone deserves vengence, Little Red. Especially you, you can block it from the world, but you can't hide your pain and rage from me. And if you don't, I will kill her, for costing the world your soul." she had no idea why he was being so kind. He didn't know her. He didn't know what she was capeable of, what she had done…

"The Slayer is needed alive, just for now. Why is not a reason you need to know, whelp. However, the dawn approaches and we need to get this out of sight before the bint gets ideas! Come on, you kill it, you bury it! This isn't like any place you've been before. On the Hellmouth you watch your arse or you end up ash." Spike said, letting go of his hold. After he came back with his soul and realized Buffy and he would never work he insisted on taking care of her. And the more and more he learned of the story of the loss of Terra, the farther he got from the woman he loved and all trust he ever had, which was next to none already went out the window after that, and more or less took over the house she now dwelled in alone, sun-poofing the windows and forcing her to eat. It was like Drusilla, minus any of… "those" type of feelings. Like she was family, and she more than any other knew what family meant to Spike. And gradually he became closer to her than anyone ever had been. They would kill for each other, and knew very well the only reason they were not targets right now was because something worse was coming for them all! And that too had been blamed on her, of course! Even her best friend had left her abandoned and William the fucking Bloody cared! Oh gods, thy name be Irony! Slowly, Jasper nodded to Spike. The other blonde now had him curious.

Finally given time, Willow finally wiped the demon blood off her blade with material she torn off her shirt. As Jasper walked with them, beside her he had to ask. "Who, or should I say, what did you kill this evening, Little Red?!" there was a little humor there, flashing in those eyes that were now Black, meaning hunger. But she was a grown girl, she knew there was many types of hunger and she hoped his mate was up for a long night! Though part of her was wondering what it would feel like to be that girl, to be desired like that by someone that looked like him, and she shook off her thoughts. Love was not for the likes of her, and lust really wasn't an option with her looks. He was on a high after being denied human blood for so long, so he could be excused. "Praetorian Demon. It's old and it's Ugly, I hate the whole Hydra affect, with the multiple growing heads! Had to slide underneath and you never want to have to willfully get teabagged by demon…" he let out a laugh like he hadn't laughed in years! "I think I acually feel sorry for you! Tell you what, when you have gotten what you need, I promise to make it peaceful. Until then, I won't let anything hurt you while you seek to attain it." she shot him a sad smile. "As strong as you are, you are young and believe it or not, there are things in my world that can rip you apart, coven member by coven member. You don't know what's out there, and I do. Promise you won't go after something without having at least spoken to one of us before hand…."

It wasn't a question, it was a command, and damn right she was using her power to influence him, just like he had done her. All is fair, after all. His eyes actually softened. "I'm getting you out of this Hell, as soon as I am able, and you WILL see all you lost again, I promise you that." And she was very grateful. Spike shot a sad look at her back while he walked with the other one who looked like she was dry sobbing, still in shock at the life her mate had just took. Curiosity getting the best of her she locked eyes with Soldier Boy. "Does she not know? The price of the animal diet for to long, I mean?" she asked softly but she knew she could hear the question and so get the information. Understand why her mate lost control so forgiveness would take over and their coven understood that sometimes, to go on, they had to make a human kill or they would wish for death long before it came, far worse than the pain of transforming! He face-palmed himself. "No, they don't know that the animal diet will kill them. I wanted to wait, as long as I could. And Bella's just been turned…" By the way he said the name, I knew it had gone against his wishes for said girl to be turned. There was an angry look from his mate shot at his back but he remained unapologetic, tone changing to what it had been before, when we circled one another, each debating when to pounce and enjoying the moment before the kill.

"Sometimes love can't conquer all, I would know. It's a cruel world we live in, and they need to know. Especially living here. The temptation is only going to grow and it's going to take them over, and when it does, Buffy will come for them. I would rather innocents not have to die." she said. The dark haired one stared, pulled into shock. She didn't want to believe her. She didn't want to give in even to her feelings watching her mate get along so well with a woman he had just met who's blood sang for him like no other, one who was his equal, who could end him just as quick and just as easily as he could end her. It was all a matter of fate in two so equally matched in their own powers. His eyes found hers again. "So do I, so do I. You remind me of her a little, you know. My maker. It's your recklessness with your own life and your strength, though you lack her ambition. But then again, you don't need it." his curiosity burned through her. This one would stalk her, and he would see through his promise. It made her smile. Once they took care of this newest threat, she would walk towards this personification of Death with open arms, and with his gifts he would take away any fear she might have, and then, then she wouldn't have to die alone. A hunch told her that he would bury her properly, and may be the only one that would possibly morn her passing. Could one be friends with their killer? It sounded upsured, but something told her that it would be. He was going to help her, and in more ways than what he had just offered. But that was yet to come.

"No, I don't. I've always been all to resilient. I sometimes wish I could have died with Jesse, before this all begun. But anyway, I think our esteemed leader has found the spot." she said while Spike stopped at a recently disturbed area near his Crypt, a place he had been placing his own kills for years, most likely. A way to make the others believe it was his kill. He knew I was going to argue so he silenced me with one hand. "Better me, who has had it a long time coming, than you, or his coven Red." he said. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest while he just laughed and took the shovel offered, using his speed it took but five minutes, something that made me laugh while Spike scowled. She took the time he went off with him after to talk to speak to the girl. "You must realize he didn't have a choice. He has reached his limit. He is to young to go so long without a human kill. You have to understand, even with your diet, at some point you must make a human kill. If you don't you'll slowly start waisting away, the kind of pain that makes your venom that marks you as a daywalker boil inside your veins and turn into pure acid and slowly eats away from the inside out. You are on the Hellmouth now. The Demons can stave, even slow down this process, but eventually you are going to break. And you can't hate yourself and start judging yourself when you do. You are what Nature made you to be. Don't let yourself die because of morals that no longer apply to you. The world is better with those like you in it." she said, gazing into those pale eyes, trying to get the message across.

"But….but we lived for so long! And it was out of no where!" and there was the anger, the refusal to understand. "He is older and stronger than you, sweetheart. I am telling you now, that man was a target from the moment he set foot with you out of the house. He needed to show you what you are. Because with you, the process has begun. He did it to save your life. You feel the pain, and you've been hiding it but you don't have a block from his gift and he can smell the deteriation. You must get past your moral code and live, the world is going to need you to much to loose you, and so will he. It says when a man's mate dies, so does he. Don't let him die for your morals, Alice Cullen. Don't make him make that sacrafice." shock and incredible sorrow flooded her heart. She was close to a breakdown but Willow learned long ago the price of sugar coating the truth. "Why are you so kind to me, when my mate has promised to kill you?" she demanded. "Because I want him to. Because he will be doing me and this world a service. It's an act of kindness, one I don't deserve but will take, nonetheless. You don't know me. You don't know what I've done. There is a price to pay for people like me and I am glad he will make sure I'm not afraid, that he'll be gentle and make sure I see a friendly face as I go." she said smilingly sadly at the naieve girl. She had been like her, once. She didn't like having to be the one to rip that innocence away, but she didn't have a choice. If she wanted Soldier Boy to follow through on his promise and in turn save his relationship by making her understand what she truly is, it had to be done.

"But you are human! What could you possibly have done that rivals us, yet you are trying to save our lives and end yours?!" she argued. "Humans have been killing your kind and things with FAR more power for a long time, my friend. I am sorry it had to be like this, but I don't want anymore good people to die if there is a chance I can stop it! Please hear what I'm saying, what he's saying! It's no good to continue on with others who deny what they are. You have to understand that vampires, even daywalkers have their own laws, their own moral code, because they can not be held to the human standard anymore. Learn the code, be as good as a person you can, but don't fight what can not be changed. You are what you are, and that does not make you evil. Look at Spike. One of the Scourge of Europe, an invaluable member of the Scoobies who spends his life now hunting with us the things that are the stuff of your worse nightmares. Things that feed on children, things that spend their whole lives trying to open the Hellmouth. I understand this is hard to accept, that you just learned of all these things. Just promise me you'll think about it. And if you want I'll give you a gift, a way to feed on the guilty, those who have done unspeakable things and will never stop so you can do a little good when you are forced to take life." the dark haried woman took a long look at Spike, one that was a little to long and she wondered what was going on there.

Then again Spike was a damn fine looking fiend, even she could appreciate his beauty and she wasn't even in to him like that! The girl had forever, it wasn't a crime to have a look here and a fantasy there once in a while. So she shrugged off the feeling, as it didn't seem to her that Soldier Boy was the jealous type. No, the one she wouldn't trust, the one that she dubbed "Mr. Sparkles" in her head was the one that had a major martyr complex, the kind that put even Angel to shame, for when he snapped, and really it was only a matter of time, towns would be painted red, and the sooner he learned that and understood what he had to do and learned to get over himself, the better off the world and any human that crossed his path would be! She didn't dance so many times with Angelus to not pick up on a few things. The reason why Spike souled or unsouled had more control was because he accepted what he was and did what he had to do. Together they solved the chip problem by her helping him find the dying ones, those in considerable ammounts of pain who just wanted it to end. Those were the best, in her opinion. Those for whom you were doing a service, like Jasper so kindly offered to her. She knew that she was going to end up having to deal both with their coven and the Scoobies, but at least she had Giles to back her up! He didn't like it, but he knew what vampires who denied themselves could do when they finally lost control. One life was better than an entire town! And considering they were daywalkers, it would take someone of her caliber to go and deal with them! And she had already killed enough!

"The guilty?!" the girl spit it out like it was acid, horrified. "You don't understand. It's this or you loose yourself to the beast entirely and take out entire towns, or someone holds you down till you boil to death from the inside out, or the Slayer comes for you. I like you Alice. You are a sweet girl with a good head on her shoulders and you make the others around you happy just because you are a bright ray of sunshine in their otherwise dark lives. I don't want to think about those other options. It's not a question of if, but when. You know that, deep down. You remember every story he told you about those newborns he was forced to train. And what the Slayer of the time did to end the war. Though between you and me, I'm glad he left before she had to intervene. It might have ended alot more bloody if he had still been there. I can make you and all of your family talismans, pretty things to wear that will show you the guilty and tell you when its time. This way you don't have to constantly feed on humans, and you will be taking out the trash when you do. It will show you demons too. And there is more of them to go around then you can shake a stick at, especially right now. It would do us a great service and allow us to focus on the fight we have coming." Finally, she came alive. "So we can feed on demons…. yes! That's it! Yes, um…. could you come to our place, say around 3 pm tomorrow? You could explain everything to us and then we'll come with you and um….." she struggled and would have blushed if she could have as she tried to think of the man who's ass had cought her undivided attention as he and Jasper talked about the troubles of Sunnydale.

Willow was far from stupid, she knew when Spike was in recruit mode, and this would mean his other idea, that she had denied outright (creating more of him and about killing her by her having to curse them all with a soul and bind them under him, like a supernatural general and his soldiers) would no longer be an option. And with his knowledge, fighting skill, and his talent Soldier Boy would be an invaluable asset to Team Slayer, it would also take him and his off the "must Slay" list, which would for some reason make her breathe easier. She was so glad that Carlisle had such close ties to the Watchers, and sought to give them information periodically and cue them in on newborn populations or elder problems, or like more recently when they had to go have a little "chat" with Aro when he tried to take down a hybrid infant. To see an ancient vampire be that frightened gave her no end of amusement! Even for the Volturi, the Slayer and the Dark One were no laughing matter, especially when it was Faith, not Buffy, leering down at him while she had simply gazed impasively and told him the truth. The States was theirs to patrol, not theirs. Any breech in the supernatural world would be dealt with by the Watchers, and if any of their guard set so much as a foot inside the States again, it would be Giles descretion to choose which of his darkest companions he wished to send to despose of them, Faith, her, or perhaps the torture happy and mad Drusilla would like new, sparkly toys to add to her collection! What had amused her even more was under all that fear, many had lusted after the Dark Slayer, and none more than Aro himself!

She about fell over after that all took place! All the more so that now she had seen him, watched him, and felt him, she knew that had he wished, Jasper could have ended Aro in a split second with nothing more than making him beg for his own death. That was how strong his gift had be come. He wasn't called the God of War for nothing! It made her wonder how in the world he and this young, naive girl came to be in the first place. They didn't seem to fit. He was a realist, he knew what had to be done and he did it. Without remorse and without regret. He didn't revel in what he was but he didn't hate himself for it either. And he refused to apologize for it, something that she wished she could do, but she had gone to far to the darkness. She was Darkness itself personified, a tip of the Balance that had gone to far. She was an Abomination, she knew it in her heart of hearts and she was happy that the PTB granted her this one kindness for all her former good deeds, the right to die without fear, to not die alone, and to go peacefully and unviolated into whatever waited in death for those who committed crimes like hers. She had been confused when said Aro asked to speak with her alone, and convinced her to wait, to not take her life. That she was needed and when the time come, the path to peace would present itself. That she was to special and rare to this world to simply die at her own hand, alone and in the dark. She was grateful now, for her peace and her death walked right in front of her.

"I can do that. I will bring someone with me. A Slayer named Faith. A vampire helped her seek redemption over damnation, so she is not going to make with the Slaying first and ask questions later the way that Buffy would. And as for why there is two and if all goes according to plan, we might have to make more, you'll find that out if Spike has his way. Why don't you tell me the birthstones of everyone? I can make rings for the men, and gems for the ladies. Something pretty that will glow neon green when the guilty are near. But only those of the supernatural world or are Awakened will be able to see it." and that got her on Alice Cullen's good side. She wanted to smack herself, as sweet as she was that girl had a very real vanity streak that made Willow's head hurt! And why did she feel another horrific mall trip where she was forced to play "Dress the Willow Barbie" for hours on end till she felt like finishing through what she started a year ago coming on? "Oh YES! A girl after my own heart! Oh I can't see you, it has to be that power, you'll have to tell me how you can be human and do that! We need to get you out of that black, too! It has it's uses but you are so pretty and just look at that waist! And so toned, you need to show what you got a little more! You are a girl MADE for the bohemian hippie outfits… But shopping after talking aside…. let's see.

Carlisle was made in Jan, so he is Garnet. (I am choosing in this tale what times they were made and when they were born. Carlisle and Esme are going to be much older. As in Middle Ages older, and to crossover the tale, the vampires they were hunting when he got turned by a Daywalker was the Scourge of Europe who about laid his village to waste and this is also the reason why he trusts the Watchers, his father was one.) Esme was turned in April so diamond, Edward and Bella were both November so topaz will match their eyes, I was turned in the late summer in August so mine is a peridot, and Jazz is also March, aquamarine for him too." she fought the urge to give Alice a look. Even the most basic of witches, beginners knew that Virgos and Pices don't mix! The controling nature of the former would slowly drive the more free-spirited other through a wall, and she had a feeling that when he let it out, Soldier Boy had the temper from Hell and all the power he needed to back it up! It was no wonder he had acted so cold towards Alice when she couldn't make herself understand and kept trying to make him feel guilt for what he did. It also explained how from moment one, they had connected, had got along, why he had such sympathy for her. She was a Scorpio, kindred spirits. He'd do whatever he could to help her now, they had some sort of strange bond that neither quite understood yet. She was glad to know that even though their friendship would be brief, she would be missed by someone with such a good heart.

Someone who even right now was thinking that maybe he would stay after, help fight the good fight, make his training, all the kills and what he had been forced to do mean something, be a part of something good for a change. He shot a heart breaking grin over her shoulder and she blessed her ability to control her emotions and her experience with insanely good looking supernaturals that kept her from fainting or swooning like a teenage fangirl. "Not sure yet how you did it, but I heard that Little Red. And I just might. They are going to need someone, after you. And I would like to mean something again. Is it true you can teach us how to block Edward?" and thank you Spike for not knowing how to keep the mouth shut and revealing a million secrets! What if he lost control and she had to be forced to put him down?! He giggled good naturedly at her. "If that happens, we'll do it for each other. You'll end me, I'll end you, and we'll go together." and she couldn't help it, an unblocked wave of thanks went out and he reached out, acting like he caught it and held it to his heart before winking at her. "I'll treasure that little gift every time you see fit to grace me with it, darlin'." and she knew right there that no matter how short a time it would be, they were going to be close. They were going to be friends. "You are rather bold, Master Whitlock. They didn't mention you were such a flirt!" she shot. She blushed but held his gaze and her own, and he appreciated that she could hold her own so well.

Alice shot them both a questioning gaze but Willow took her hand reassuringly. But he moved back towards her and into that space again, so close the other woman had to move back. He took her hand and engulfed it in his larger one, and rather than repel the coolness of the skin pulled her in, pulled her in like nothing ever had, nothing since Terra….. Thoughts of her tore into her and it was to late to fight them off before he caught it and tightened his grip. The other hand moved, fingers traveling in a comforting effort through her now long red hair that cascaded in it's own natural curls down her spine. He was an inch from her ear, low enough that not even his mate could hear. "If I am a Master, then you are a Mistress, my Little Red temptress. Never fear me, I swear to you I'll give back what they took from you. I will." she was shocked at the seriousness to his eyes, the powerful flare of the just established connection. She gave him a soft smile, one that had she known it she might of fled. The smile that was his, and his alone. "I don't doubt you, and I'll never fear you. I have seen to much to not want what you offer me. I have done terrible things, Jasper. Unforgiveable things. And I can't handle the pain and the guilt. I need to pay the price, maybe my death will give me peace." she said while his gaze turned sad.

"I'll see to it you have it. But not yet, not yet just yet. And it would be an honor to be your friend, for a time, if you would allow me." that made his mate smile and she could hear those thoughts. "That's the man I love! I knew he couldn't just go on with what he just did and not care!" and she ached for her new friend. Alice didn't see her mate for who he truly was, she didn't love the man that held her hand and offered her such kindness and yet would not deny the beast inside of him or apologize for it. She was in love with the man she painted him in her head since day one to be, not who he really was. So she was going to give the man a gift, one that no one had ever given before. She pulled in and whispered so that it was more like mouthing but he got every word. "And you have no need to pretend to be anyone but who and what you really are with me. Around me you are the God of War, and you have no reason or need to be ashamed of who you were and who you are. I care nothing for Jasper Hale. He is the character you have been forced to play for to long. I care for Major Jasper Whitlock, for that is who you really are, and I accept all of you, the dark, the light, and the indifferent." a shudder went through his whole frame and a look she would never forget was in eyes when he pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her cheek. "That means more to me than you could ever know!" he said. His hug pulled her off the ground and he swayed with her, shooting that dazzling smile into her eyes before setting her back down and kissing the other cheek.

He walked back to Alice and wrapped his arms around her, still smiling. His eyes turned to Spike in a friendly manner. "Thank you both for being here and helping. I'll talk to them, see if they won't help us. I think Faith more than anyone would convince the rest to help, but as for me, no matter what they decide I'm in. What about you darlin?" he asked Alice, looking down and the lust from the kill working it's way into his system and making WIllow smile and wink at him and he winked back. "And leave Will behind without our SHOPPING?! BLASPHEMY!" and Willow couldn't help it, she about fell over with laughter. It had been far to long since she had felt like that, so accepted, she had almost forgotten what it was like to have friends! "Red, I'll start planning the funeral now. Because I'm pretty sure pixie here is going to beat our Soldier to the punch!" and they all laughed lightly, Spike pulling her back to him and entwining his arms with hers. He liked his Red close and she knew that though he hid it well, it hurt him to hear all of that between her and Jasper. He loved her like his own blood and he didn't want to live without her. She knew what he planned to do once she was gone. All he wished was that he could go with her. It was a bit of a comfort to know that their new friend would make sure she wasn't scared. That she wasn't alone. That the last face she would see would be one that cared about her.

It was a comfortable silence they moved in as they edged closer to parting ways. Willow felt a peace she hadn't known in far to long. Before they seperated Jasper left her with another baffling moment, a kiss on the cheek. "Till tomorrow Little Red. I'll be waiting." he said in her ear, like he didn't want Alice to hear. It was all very strange to the red head, including that secretive smile he shot over her shoulder as he and his mate left arm in arm. And then that look, and a smirk on Spike's face that began to drive her mad as they too walked arm in arm back to her two-story home. Like for once he knew something the genious didn't know. And nothing worked either! Not puppy dog looks, whining, or even bribery! "You are just going to have to find it out for yourself, pet. But I, for one feel much better about your...demise." he said it like it was some sort of private joke! But I read that man, I read him in a way that not even his so called brother ever could, for he didn't have my power, and was no where near as gifted as Soldier Boy. He meant every word, he would not go back on his promise to me. What ever it was Spike was thinking, I grinned. We two strangers understood one another. He would keep his word to me, no matter what! And before then, we were going to be friends. And I had missed that, I missed it so badly! Friends with someone who understood, who trusted me, perhaps even needed me in his life, we both needed someone there who saw us for who we really were and accepted us, warts and all.

Jasper's POV

THe smile never left his face since they met that beautiful red head, with that gorgeous crimson hair, those eyes that hid so much anger, so much pain, death at her finger tips and self hatred and guilt so choking it was killing her slowly, and that haunting, mind numbingly beautiful broken smile. He meant every word to her. He didn't know yet everything that she had been through, the terrible things that caused those scars but he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything about her, how she gained so much power, how she had so much blood on her hands when he had no doubt that once she had been the kind of innocent that would make even Bella pale in comparison. And unlike Bella, who's very name made him feel disgusted, the mighty witch would have never in a million years make the choice that she did! No, Little Red was strong, and she was incredibly intelligent, she understood the price to be paid, what it truly means to throw away mortality and become the stuff of nightmares and she would never of chose it freely. She probably had the opportunity more than once, she was one of the few that didn't realize just how beautiful she was. It wasn't like their beauty. It was in her confidence, her haunted eyes, her genuinely shy smile, how she could still blush after the nightmares she had been forced to live, and then had become. It was in that bright mind and how it made her whole face light up, glowing in the light of the moon when she spoke on subjects she knew so well.

How she could pry apart every secret you ever had in a matter of seconds. Even if she were not the pet of a Watcher and had been from a young age, he had no doubt Willow would have found out what they were in less time than it took for Esme to decorate the house! And she would do more than guess, he was pretty sure she would tell them what they were, why their eyes were golden, what each of their gifts were, and how they could be killed! It was something, afterall, she had been doing for years, and for someone as powerful as Spike to speak about her with such respect and such fear, he knew she was nothing to be triffled with and it only made him that much more fascinated. So caught up in thought he didn't even think about how tonight affected his mate. Little Red had said all that needed to be said for him, defended him, and told her how it was without being condescending, rude, and even managed to curb the pixie's notorious jealousy by appealing to her inner mall rat which had him cringing on the poor girl's behalf. He had a feeling his new friend was not a fan of the mall, clothing, or make-overs and his wife was liable to force all three. There was the lecherous side inside him that wanted to see them get into it, and after her speech about being who he was and self denial was never good, he decided to indulge himself and felt no shame in picturing his two pixies going in for some hate sex. And something just told him the girl did indeed swing both ways and he wasn't complaining in the slightest!

"I didn't know what to think at first, but she's just trying to help us, and she is so cute! With that gorgeous hair and those eyes, did you see her eyes, Jazz?" oh he most certainly had! He had wanted to drown himself in those emerald depths, loose himself in her complex and mature emotions that were far beyond most people of her age. A man could be captured by those eyes and spend the rest of his life trying to make them light up again, and be happy to do so! Even he, taken as he was, wanted to do so. He could try all he want but he wasn't Edward and Willow sure the Hell was no Bella! Even if her blood cried out to him, she could easily roast him alive where he stood if she wished to. There was no need to walk on egg shells around her. She could more than fend for herself. It was thrilling to him, to be around a human who carried so much power, who understood the Darkness so well. Someone outside his family with whom for the first time in nearly a century he could be allowed to simply be himself around! He had felt it even as they spoke on his past. She admired his mind for military strategy, marvelled at his ability to lead, and even reveled in the part of him that was and always would be the God of War. From the moment he heard her voice, felt her there he knew she was special. And nothing was more important in the world right now than getting close to her. Getting lost in the trebble of her soft voice, drowning in the depths of what made her Willow as he peeled back the layers.

"Oh yes, I saw them. Eyes far to old for her age. Poor beautiful girl, so lost and so alone. We can't let that continue, darlin. We must give her reasons to want to live again. Her so called friends abandoned her and left her to rot away with only Spike to care for her, waiting only for her to cast this or that spell or clean up whatever mess is to big for them since she messed up, though he wouldn't elaborate. But seriously, forcing someone to use magick on a Hellmouth and they don't expect her to slip?! We need to get to know her, show her she can trust us. What it means to have friends that won't simply abandon her when things get bad for her." he said, searching his wife's eyes. As they neared the home, a few lights still left on Alice got very sad. "How could someone do that to her?! She is so sweet, and she was like me once, I can tell! Forcing her into this place…. oh just the NERVE! You are absolutely right! I can't see her in my visions, I think her magick blocks that, she is an incredible talent. But it doesn't matter. Her and I are going to be great friends!" he smiled a secret smile inwardly, knowing that would last as long as watching just how close he and Little Red would get before he followed through with his promise. But even he was beginning to doubt, at this early stage, if he could leave her dead. She said nothing about that, so it would not be breaking his word. And it would be nice to have beside him someone who didn't constantly pressure or order him around and just simply wanted to be around him being him.

Sometimes, as much as he loved her, it really got to him that his wife couldn't accept all of who he was. She refused to believe that the God of War was just as much a part of him as being out of Texas. It was vital, wound deeply into the recesses of his soul. He just couldn't turn it off because of the things he did in that persona. And every time she forced him in a cage, to deny that part of himself, he felt against his will a bit of resentment towards her. She knew who he was, he had made sure that he had before they got married, and yet she insisted on molding him into something like Edward. But he would never hate himself for who he was, or doing what it was in his nature to do! He lived on their diet because it made them happy. But long ago he learned to dine on the guilty, just as Little Red had preached. And whereas Edward felt heart crippling guilt and remorse so strong it just about drove him insane and want to snap his head off his shoulders when he went off the reservation all those years ago, Jasper didn't feel sorry for one single low life who's life he took. One less murderer, rapist, and his personal favorite, taking down pedophiles in the world and in his opinion, his actions had done a great good to the world that housed him. What reason was there for their gifts if they could not bring just a little justice into a world that turns innocent beautiful women like Willow into monsters with a body count that could possibly rival his own? Even now he wanted to find every creature that dare mar that beautiful clear skin of hers and rip them apart, slowly.

It disapointed him that they were already dead. It was lucky that Alice could not read his thoughts. She would not deal with his thoughts on the other woman well, not at all! Where as he could understand when one had an eternity you might want to fool around with another person, perhaps even something with an actual heart beat and flesh that was soft as silk and warm to the touch Alice would loose her damn mind if she ever found out he so much as fantasized about another woman. It was nerve wracking and illogical and hypocritical. He was not blind, he had eyes, and he saw her check out the elder vampire, Spike, when they had walked. In fact, after he took down the rapist the blonde vampire had been all she looked at, till Little Red mentioned the jewelery. But he was not going to call her out on it because he understood. He had been shocked and taken in deeply by the red head, her delicate beauty had broke down every wall without even trying and went deep inside his heart the moment they locked eyes. And he was going to keep looking, because she was fascinating, she was strong as Hell, in so many ways she was still innocent inspite of what she had done, and to him she was so lovely. So he would go along with Alice's obliviousness aas long as he could, so he could get close to her, so he could be what everyone else feared to be. Her friend!

"We all will be darlin. That girl needs alot of lovin', I'm afraid her friends have dropped the ball and she's had to pay the piper for it. I won't have her out patrolin' the dark nights out here with no more backup than Spike. We could take turns till the other Cullens come 'round if you like." he found his Texan accent came out more when he felt happy, and it made his wife smile all the wider. "You know what, you are right! We'll all be good for her! Maybe that is just what she needs to choose life! A family that wants to take care of her! And how could we not love her, how could any of us not want to heal her after everything she has been forced to endure? It's not fair!" and there it was, why he fell for his wife in the first place. That overwhelming compassion for others! THe mother hen in her was coming out in force and it made him smile. "I believe your right. Now prepare yourself for the Spanish Inquisition, the Cullens are concerned and Edward doesn't trust her." understatement of the century! Edward saw everything and he was TERRORFIED, something that made him endlessly amused! Willow could end him with nothing more than a thought, may even have the power to undo what had been done to Bella, if the turning had been not to far along, which it had not.

That little thought shut the fucker up! And a hope spiked through his system that had him wanting to smash his brother into a wall. God he was so tired of his damned martyr complex! He was not going to like her so much when her warning was made clear to them all. And he respected her like hell for making it. His wife gripped his hand with a small smile. "Edward won't like it and Bella will dislike her, but Esme's going to overule them. You know her need to reach out and heal the broken, and she'll never meet a person more in need of her love that Willow." and that was one thing they could both agree too! He personally couldn't wait to learn to keep that nosy fucker out of his head and thanked whatever powers that liked him that he found her when he had and how she salvaged a marriage that could have ended on the spot after he took that life and his wife understood he had intended to, it hadn't been just a slip. He knew from the moment they exited the door what he wanted and she had followed to stop him and been so horrified! He had told her that she needed to realize who and what they were, and they were in for a violent fight before she intervened.

He could never know that fate had different plans. That the electric shock he felt when he touched her sealed their fate. That Alice had never been his true mate, and the witch on her way to becoming the first Ascended in a thousand years had just met on that fateful night before the second appearance of the Mad Priest the Daywalker that was destined to become her Consort.

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Alice is only admiring Spike, and what red-blooded female wouldn't?! In time she will be paired up with Angel. I wanted Jasper to feel a connection to Willow right away, an appeal to the gentleman in her to help her and a fascination in his beast on how someone so pure fell so far and became so powerful on her own, without becoming the same as him. He is thrilled by her power and awed by her quiet beauty and deeply moved by the pain that is so strong she wants to die, and he makes his offer not wanting her to go alone, scared, with no one to care at her own hand. But even right now though he means to keep his word, he is doubting whether he'll leave her dead though he doesn't know it's because the beast in him and the depths of his sub-concious know she's his mate. I just never thought that Alice and Jasper fit. It's not that I hate Alice, it's just they don't go together. She is naive, and far to happy. She couldn't really ever get a grasp on the things that he had been forced to go through, and I don't think she would handle who he really is completly. I think he denys that part of himself to his own detriment. He will always be a soldier, and one can only deny their nature so long before it takes them over completely. As someone on the Spectrum, I can relate as putting off and swallowing meltdowns ends up in the one Meltdown that makes you a danger to yourself and everything within the vacinity. I loose all control and have done horrible things in that state because I deny myself fro

m loosing it every other time. So that's how I'm writing this. Also vampries are meant to KILL HUMANS! That is why I am making it mandatory that they have to get one human kill in at least once in a while, or it will kill them. This is what they are meant to feed on. Everything else is just a side-dish. But go for to long and they will either go into Blood Frenzy or die from the lack. There will be slight Edward bashing in this, as I tire of his self hatred that puts even Louis de Pointe du Lac to shame, and THAT"S SAYING SOMETHING! Bella won't be a strong character either. I couldn't stand how Stephanie wrote her and found her useless, which is harsh I know, but I can be that way sometimes. I am giving Jasper back his balls and putting him with a woman that would understand him in ways Alice just can't, who will accept the whole package. And Willow who is Bi, by the way, with someone who would fall madly in love with her complex wonderful character and heal the wounds left behind by Terra and the friends that abandoned her one time to many. In time, after she begins her chase for Angel (occuring after they have their own "spark" when she needed to go somewhere when she got jealous of Jasper and Willow laughing while wrestling in the training room) Alice will take to the Red Head again and Rosalie takes a motherly liking to the broken girl after she learns her past and what it means to be Ascended.


	2. To Live is to Die (warning, REALLY LONG)

**Chapter Two: **To Live is to Die

"**When a man lies he murders. Some part of the world. These pale deaths which men miss call their lives. All this I cannot bare to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home?" These lyrics written in honor of a fallen comrade speak to our two war torn heros as the mournful guitar makes audible what their words cannot, dancing in early moonlight unseen by any but the stars and finding long lost consolation in the arms of a stranger. Warning, this chapter is not Bella or Carlisle friendly. Carlisle will be redeemed later but this is not a Bella friendly tale.**

**They had ears but would not hear**

**even those rumored of wisdom**

**could not hear the grim words given them**

**the messenger that carried them in**

**swallowed in a sea of their fear**

**and none would have ears to hear**

**Her face set in stone**

**visable to him alone**

**a thousand emotions setting the tone**

**to silent suffering only to him made clear**

**and he follows compelled to wipe her tears**

**two bloodied and worn down soldiers**

**surrounded by bodies of a sea of ghosts**

**forever departed their physical hosts**

**just voices moaning from forgotten posts**

**and pale moonlight unchanging to mark the years**

**Her eyes reflecting his every fear**

**connected to broken goddess with those eyes**

**they follow after him after she is gone in the dark night**

**and through Hell and all Devils he'll fight**

**so that fire can blaze again among un numbered tears.**

**-Un numbered Tears inspired by JRR Tolkien excerpt by Makilome**

**Jasper's POV**

To say he was still in blind shock, hours later, was an under statement! He never ever imagined someone of the likes of Carlisle reacting the way he did! Oh don't get him wrong, when she first came, everyone but Edward and Rosalie were all smiles and utterly fascinated by her power. By the time she finished her story, laying her soul bare, lord knows why, he had been holding back dry sobs, even though he knew she held so much back, she revealed so little and so much. How she became like she was, the dark magick singing beneath her veins, burning beneath her skin, begging to be used like blood sang to him to be drank, it was no different. He had been an empath long enough now to know! To think she had been through such things and they hadn't even scratched the surface! It was no wonder she asked what she did of him! She wanted a release! To be free of the nightmare that had become her everyday life and he wondered if she ever knew a single day when another person of her graduating year didn't end up on a slab killed by something he didn't want to think about existing! He found her theories about their origions intelligent, intriuging, and disturbing! There was a kernel of truth to it.

He was not the same breed as Spike but he felt a deep kinship. They were related. All it took was one souless vamp that yet somehow like him managed to hang on to his ability to love and a Vengeance demon in the right place at the right time and you have the solution, along with the drawbacks, to being of the more souless demon variety. After all, magick always had its price. And the look on her face as she said it smote him to the heart unlike anything ever had in a long time! She should have never been forced through such things, she should have been protected! He was appalled at the current Slayer, so ready to lean and willing to give so little. The red head tried to defend her friend and Edward glared at him, but there was no excuse for leaving an innocent like she had once been so high in dry in a world filled with gods and monsters with no protection, let alone let her get INVOLVED! And now she had the nerve to get pissy?! Really?! Maybe she didn't like that someone else had the power now, more power than she could ever dream! That the weak one, the miscounted one, the one every one ignored became the most powerful and terrofying thing on this damn Hellmouth.

Sounded more like karmic justice, if you asked him, which no one did. Instead when she gave her warning Carlisle went oddly cold, Esme went rigid. Only Rosalie, of all people, took up her side! That had shocked the hell out of him! She took up her side with gusto, and began a thunderous argument with Edward and said things that everyone else had wanted to say but had kept back, and he found himself rather proud of her! "SHE IS A MYTHICAL CREATURE! And unlike Bella, she didn't ask to be one! She did what she had to do to survive and all she is trying to do is open up your eyes! Just because you won't listen to Aro or your own son Carlisle doesn't mean my ears are closed! We are what we are, and you made us that, and not one single one of us BUT Bella was given the the choice and now you have a problem?! She offers a viable solution, even though by all rights she should end us here in the very house we stand in and could and you want to argue ethics? You who lectured me over and over again about Bella? No matter what her very presence in our life has brought down on us, to her town, to her own family, to Jacob?! Oh that's right we aren't supposed to talk about Dog Boy and HIS FEELINGS she toyed with, are we?"

The blonde cared nothing for the mutt, but even she had a heart and watching Bella play with Jacob Black's heart like that had filled them both with a mutual dislike of Bella that before he did not have. His only objection had been his draw to her blood before but he never thought her capeable of what she did to the Wolf! But no one talked about it. They packed up and moved and left the poor man on life support, the love of his life dead, her body now the form of his mortal enemy. How one could do that to someone they claimed to love, to be their best friend he could never understand. Willow even now loved the Slayer, would sacrafice her life for her, anything she needed whenever she needed it regardless of what it would cost her, even after it had cost her everything she had to give. That was what love was, what friendship was! When he threw that in Rosalie picked up the theme. She had been more moved by the tale then he could have ever anticipated and after the rant she went out, sunlight be damned, in search of the red head who hid behind her broken smile, her apology, and left with her heart a little more broken.

Something maternal inside his adopted sister had sprung to life within her at the sight of those dead eyes, that broken smile, that hellish power. Watching Edward's words cut her down shreaded her last thread of sanity and when Rosalie let loose, she went for the jugular and was going in for the kill! She wanted him to understand everything he cost the family, had cost Bella, even if she was still to young and nieve yet to understand what she cast aside like so much trash. Not that he and Rosalie didn't love Marcella (I changed Renesmee's name because that is a horrific name and I refuse to use it and therefore substituted one of my own, don't like it, deal with it! There is also no Jacob/Infant love because it deeply disturbs me. There is going to be some Faith/Jacob (Behold the birth of the Jacaith ship!) love later when Jasper calls in a favour when Alice finally has a vision she sort of sees him in and tell them they need the Pack when the rest of the Cullens but her, Jasper, and Rosalie tuck tail and run and they get housed with Willow and Spike, spoiler alert!) they did! She was the rare bit of sunshine in their dark lives, a miracle that could possibly never occur again. They would die for that little girl! But her mother would never understand what she gave up or what she took from her Mutt. When she took off Jasper took over, or rather, the pissed off God of War did. Something within grew more and more protective of the red head by the second and wanted to rip the head off anyone that dare cut her down. He didn't quite understand it himself.

Alice played the oblivous card, convinced she could find a way to live entirely off demons, even when it had been explained to her more than once that was not possible. It could only slow her deteriation, only human blood could stop it in its tracks. Willow had tried desperately to make her see reason but she kept asking about the demon population and ways they could be tracked. But there could be a middle road, in that mysterious word that sent shudders down the witches spine, Bringers. Once human, now resembling some magickal form of living zombies with working hearts pumping human blood. It wasn't fresh by any means, but it could do the trick! He meant to find her later, find her alone, and talk about it. It touched him, how adamant she had been in trying to save his wife from what was taking her from him slowly from the inside out. She barely knew her and she was willing to go to any length to save her life, and to think that this was the reception she got! And from people who at their age should know better! It was infuriating! If he hadn't Alice to speak to, he would have followed Rose to go find the witch, it hurt him to see her that way, physically hurt, and he didn't know why. He had never felt that before, like they had some strange connection. But then again this was a Hellmouth and they had a rather vindictive Big Bad who got off on tormenting Willow.

This could be another trick. But it was a damn powerful one! He couldn't get the insane need out of his head to find her, that she needed him, needed him like he hadn't been needed since he had been turned and it felt… it felt GOOD! To be the one out of them all turned to for anything other than artificial comfort or to be the wrecking ball fixing the monumental mess that Bella, whether she wished it or not, had brought down on them all. And he didn't give a damn if Edward knew just how resentful he felt after the hyprocritical way she tore into the redhead with no one to stop her! Like she had any say! And being the whipped little puppy he was, his brother did nothing, taking her side, agreeing to everything. Hiding behind his wife's jealousy at the new comer who held power of her own, a mortal with the power of a god. He wondered how much of her love of Edward was lust and desire for immortality out of fear of the unknown. He was beginning to think only an immortal knew the true value of the gift of death and mortality. A chance to rest, where all sins are forgiven, all debts are paid, where everyone is equal, stipped bare and made ready to make the next journey. He didn't need a Hellmouth to tell him that Heaven and Hell were never just concepts. Perhaps that was part of Bella's anger, finding out what she had just cheated herself out of for the very first time would be jarring to anyone.

Willow had been a safe target, or so she thought. No one could ever expect his attachment to her, even at this early state, or ever even anticipated Rose! As he became more and more concerned by the minute, the feeling to forget everyone and everything not the red head and go tearing after her was becoming stronger and stronger, to the point he was nolonger questioning himself and using all his considerable willpower to stay where he was and let Rose reach out to her. His sister had never found anyone she connected to quite like that. Emmet was great but Rose wanted a family her whole life, and hearing her story had her finally finding someone who had been forced into all of this violently and robbed of everything to become something monsterous, something to be feared, something you hated like her. Survivors needed reassurance only one of their own could provide and he had a feeling there were things that the girl never told even her friends and that made him grit his teeth as an unusual spike of absolute fury flooded his system at even the suggestion of violation on her person in anyway! He cursed at himself and excused himself from Alice. He wasn't clear headed enough to have the argument again, he needed to lock himself away before he did something he regretted, gutting Edward's insides, snapping Bella's head off, or going after the girls.

_Flashback_

_He felt himself smiling when the smell from the night before, a pleasant mixture of vanilla, lilac, and the rich velvety allure that sang out for him alone floated through the open window. His new friend was here, 3pm sharp! She was precise and a woman of her word, he knew she would be. Even before Maria had gotten a hold on him he always had a feeling about people, he'd never been wrong in what he sensed once. Of course he never imagined just how right his "all is not as it seems, she is to perfect to be real" vibe he got off the dark haired siren really was. But even as that power transformed into his current empathy, he still retained that insight into others. It was how he was able to tell that though Alice seemed to be hiding something from him, something even now that was just out of his reach, he knew she was a good person at heart, that she could show him how to come back to being the man he once was before he became the God of War, a thing more beast than man. A light knock had him and Alice both smiling. He didn't need to be Edward to know that the pixie was already dressing the lovely girl in her head and planning on what new stores to invade to create a new variation on the hippie style that even in black the witch was rocking. He wouldn't take this from either one. Something vital had been ripped away, had stolen the life right out of Willow and she needed a little mothering, someone to care, to be a bit girly with._

_They were behind Bella, answering the door with a shy and curious smile, immediately internally counting the similarities between the witch and who she used to be as a human and there was a spark of jealousy there. Willow remained human, had become a force to be reckoned with on her own, created her own power when necesity knocked on the door and the brilliant girl grasped at what was needed to keep herself and her friends alive. He had caught the sad look on her face that she hid from Edward when they spoke of Willow's friends and even he saw the similarities in the destiny of the Slayer and the Mutt. Perhaps she was for once thinking about what could have been, had she chosen to stick to the friend she had known since she had been in diapers and fought beside him to the bitter end instead of choosing Edward, immortality, and the ready-made family. It was a healthy thing for her to question her actions and he was grateful that unconciously a little magick was already at work from the beautiful red head's presence. "Oh I am so sorry! I am bad with the staring, but that skirt is stunning, and I usually hate shopping but I so want one! It's very medieval! Come on in, you've created quite the stir! Most of us never met a witch before." she turned around and if she could still blush she would have, gazing at the amused faces of him and Alice._

_Willow shared a wink with them both and a sly grin that had him holding in laughter. He liked her cheek, even if it had a tinge of darkness to it. It appeared he wasn't the only one who could read people. When his pixie called for the rest of the family he decided to play along with this playful and non hostile vibe she was trying to create. It was an interesting tatic, one it seemed she had used before to put the others at ease and realize she was trying to do what was needed to save their lives. No matter what the head of their coven thought, the rest of them had a right to know that the path they were on could lead to their very painful deaths. The first time he found out was when Aro had come to town and using it to toy with the former soldier, to use his temper against him he made it painfully clear that Alice had already began the process of dying from the inside out and that his senses did not lie to him. He had put everything aside for Marcella then but now was the time for everything to be out in the open. To say the conversation between him and Carlisle made the argument over who was truly the leader here front and center, something that boiled just beneath the surface. When it came to defending the Coven and protectig his own, Jasper did not have an equal in the house. He hadn't had an equal into his eyes fell on Willow._

_He slid up to her, Bella's eyes widening when he hooked his arm into her own and inspite of everything that she was the witch blushed to the same color as her hair and that true, shy, genuine smile that had been the first he had seen without that tinge of heartbreak encouraged him and lifted his spirits for the first time in seemed to be months. "Shall we go to the living room, my Lady?" he asked, ignoring the confused and shocked look on Bella's face as they slowly walked, giving the others time to gather themselves for what she had come to say. He couldn't say for sure what any of them expected, but all of them had their suspisions and Rosalie to her credit had a real, true fear of the one human being who bore the power to rip them apart and burn them alive. He had expected her to be a skeptic and was shocked to hear that there had been someone with telekenetic gifts in her extended human family that she had seen with her own eyes. And the power here could not be denied by anyone, nor could the other supernaturals once they knew now how to spot them. To his lovely friend's credit, she embraced her embarrisment, taking it in stride and reacting like the young girl she should have been allowed to be. "As my Lord wishes, it tis his lovely home and wonderful family. His Lady Witch thanks him for allowing her into his home and hearing her words." Alice giggled good naturedly behind them and Willow sent her a wink over her shoulder._

_Something liked what she said, in jest or not. Something animalistic felt a deep satisfaction, and from that moment on for reasons he didn't quite understand he forever felt a certain pride in calling her his Lady Witch, and whenever her image came to mind he always thought of her that way. His Lady Witch...or simply just HIS. Perhaps the God of War in him saw a younger version of himself, with limitless power and no one to guide her, her heart shattered and left with a man who was perhaps even more lost than she was, the darker side of him saw in her an opportunity to mold the perfect soldier, a second in command who could make the the Volturi quake where they stood. With her with them, nothing would be able to touch what was his ever again, and he began to relax. Strangely, she was more safe with the God of War than any other had ever been, even his mate. He didn't think to deeply on it. Though he felt a certain satisfaction in the fact that the side of himself that everyone else feared was the very thing that was needed to help fight against the thing that trembled beneath their feet. War was coming for mortals and immortals alike, and it was not for the likes for the squeamish or the weak. It was the time and place for soldiers and it felt good to know that he could make the monster that he was into something good, something needed, something that could save others, could have a purpose, reach back and redeem the moment went Maria selfishly made him._

_And the beast liked that subconciously at least, his Lady Witch acknowledged his command. Though profoundly more powerful, she knew who held the majority in years, and though not outweighed in experience was outweighed in training for what was coming. Being left alone with Spike, she was going to need his help to keep fighting and remain in control of the darkside that wanted to lash out and bring everything around them crashing down. So though she may never see him as superior in any way to her, she was willing to listen to orders, act on them, and do what had to be done when the others began to fail around her. She bowed to his over all authority, something that no one else in the Coven had done, even when they relied on him to save them from the New Born army and Aro. He appreciated that. When she entered the living room, shooting Edward a disarming smile that had he been a single man and human would of made him turn into putty and even as it was made his legs suddenly feel weak to reassure the younger immortal of her intentions. The human part of his brother was struck to the quick by the youth, the innocence of her face and the ancient and all to familiar haunted look to her emerald eyes but there was also clear alarm. _

_Her power surrounded her even now like armour, she didn't even seem to notice it, but it gave her this unearthly presence. This feel of polar opposites, this small, fragile looking beauty with her enormous eyes with this aura of absolute power that turned her into a tower of strength was a bit jarring for those not used to dealing with other supernaturals. He couldn't help but think in time Edward would come to see her for who she was and be glad that she came to save the life of the pixie. A strange foreboding upon taking in the sight of the small witch came upon the approaching Rose, who upon seeing her couldn't seem to make herself fear and felt instead this strange and very powerful connection, much like he had the first time they held each other's gaze, though the kind of connection and the power behind it was different. It was deeply maternal and it scared her more than the girl herself. She took a spot next to Alice, who gazed upon Willow with sympathy and seemed to be willing her strength, making him hope that she heard her the other night, that she had gotten through to her with her plea where he had not been able to. Esme came in and gave her a warm smile and shocked her, making him laugh a little when she took the all to thin girl into her arms and he read all the concern in her, probably taking in the paleness of her skin as well as her frame and thinking about how to get the girl better again._

_Their blonde patriarch with whom he held an uneasy truce since his advice and Alice's vision had sent them to the Hellmouth made him proud by taking in stride this prophet who could be or spell out their doom. But Willow was not Bella and could stand her own ground. She had laughed, truly laughed, and what a lovely sound that had been when the family giant came in and lifted her off the ground in a bear hug and had to remind him that witch as she may be she still had the need to breathe had very human bones. Then she began her introduction, starting with the dark tale of how she met the Slayer. And to Jasper's own personal horror, it only got worse as she spoke! But she wasn't telling them everything, she kept something back. Something deeply painful, skimming over with clip notes how she became what she was. The only clue he had was the overwhelming pain that knocked the wind out of him, for lack of a better discription, that resounded deeply inside him. He had never felt anything from anyone so powerful, nor have it personally affect him, though he hid that little fact and thanked all the gods that liked him that Edward was to distracted by his rising fear of her to read his thoughts, like it did. It had been a name, Tara. That one name and she barely held on!_

_It was this neverending ache, this black whole of despair that never ended. Like someone had taken all light, all hope, all meaning out of her life and all that was left mocked her with their laughter, their love, their happiness while she was stuck in a very personal Hell from which she had no escape and he understood why his offer meant so much to her. But it renewed something inside of him, it lit a fire, a light, the first beginnings of life to arise in him in more years then he cared to think about to bring it back to her, to give her back her light, to give her meaning, a reason to go on. There had been a reason fate had taken him to her that night, and he was beginning to think it was more than just to fight the good fight and be the one to help tip the Balance just enough to finally shut the Hellmouth to end all Hellmouths forever. And the reason was Willow. Perhaps he was meant to go through with the thought that occured to him after he made his promises to her. He couldn't after all give it all back to her if she remained dead. But that was the loophole she left. He couldn't help but feel that fate didn't want her to be gone forever. It felt like some outside force was guiding him to a different ends. Perhaps it was her Goddess. _

_Perhaps her pagan gods were more merciful to her than he ever imagined. The tale of Glorificus rattled Rose to the core and he knew that she would not be any obstacle. She was on the red head's side, and when the time came and they had to choose between her life and her death, Rose wouldn't let her go even if she hated that it might have to be that way. There was a long silence after she finished. Esme looked like she had been struck. Edward for once in his life was speachless. Rose fought off the drive heaves that threatened to take her over in the comfort of her mate's arms, Alice looked at her with awe and deep sadness but with hope. But Bella, Bella felt conflicted and convicted. Here was the woman that put aside her needs, her wants, her desires and chose her friends and their lives over her own every single time, no matter what the personal cost was to her. Whether it was respelling back to Angel his soul that almost cost her own life, the regurgitating of the serpent that could have killed her in bringing her friend out of what she thought had been a Hell Demension, loosing her first love to her enemy without complaint (considering she loved him since childhood Jasper did not judge her for kissing the man like no tomorrow when they were under the threat of upending death!), and even the sacrafice of Tara for which she took a terrible vengeance._

_She had given up everything, had lost everything, and still would not leave her friends even when they had abandoned her to die in a fight that without her would end them all. And in return she had attained her own power, her own idenity, her own inner strength that shined out even now. To have made the choice Bella had would not even been considered a choice to the other woman. She would never sacrafice her friends for her own happiness, no matter what the personal cost to herself would be. And she would never chose a lover, not even her beloved Tara, over them for any reason! She would never chose for herself to become what Bella had become. And instead of being something healthy, to make her think over what she had done, a growing, strong, and deep resentment and hatred of everything the red head stood for began to take over the shy burnette who had never felt such things before! In shock Jasper reeled from the powerful emotions flowing out of her, forced to lean back against the couch where a concerned Alice took his hand and looked pained. Clearly she had seen what was coming and he braced himself for something he never imagined. But Rose broke them out of their stupor._

"_We understand now why you have this about you. But now its time to tell us what you came to say." she said it gently, but all eyes, many all to fearful for his liking, especially watching while Willow broke just a little more inside under the withering gaze Bella gave her, rivited back to her. "Alice is dying. All of you but Bella know this, but maybe don't know why. It is not my place to question the judgement of your Coven leader, but I can not just stand back while someone with such a good heart wastes away slowly before my eyes when I can do something to stop it. Your kind, the same as the elder form of vampire are meant to feed off human life. It isn't just the blood, it's the vital life force that keeps you alive. I know you didn't ask for it but it is what it is. You are predators and humans are your prey. Like the lion and the antelope. Like the lion you may live off other forms of food for a long time, but not forever. You need that vital life force to stay alive. And without it, there comes a time when your body begins to starve itself, and no ammount of animal blood will be able to cure it. Demon blood can stem it and slow it down dramticly, but it is not a cure. If you do not deal with this in its infancy you will go into a state that is called Blood Frenzy. In that form you loose all semblance of humanity. Your beast takes complete control, and in its starved state, the beast goes into survival mode. _

_This state has brought whole towns to their knees! I've seen what happens when a vampire denies what they are for to long! I've seen a good man become a monster and almost open a Hellmouth and bring Hell to reign here upon Earth. I've read the firsthand accounts of the Watchers about medieval villages swallowed and unknown to history that have been laid low to this very thing. And the younger you are and the more you deny yourself, the more dangerous in that form you will be and the longer it will go on. It could be years before your humanity manages to surface again, and think about the thousands that will have fallen in the process! Before that happens, my friend WILL find you. She is stronger than you, she is better than you, and she will end you before she allows that to pass and she won't think twice about it and there won't be anything I'll be able to say or do to stop that. Or, say by some miracle your coven manages to hold you. Your venom will become toxic to you, boiling inside you and burning a hole through your body until it eats you alive like battery acid. I don't want that for any of you. And so there is another choice. Hate me if you must, but listen to what I tell you, if for no other reason than to spare the innocent lives I KNOW you care about._

_I can make items for you, items that will glow for only you to see that will show you the guilty. People who are not able to be redeemed, who will never stop in pedophilia, in rape, beating wives and children, committing murder, arson, horrific acts. Scourges of society who are unable to stop themselves so that in giving in only when you have to you are able to also do a little good for the world. Or if that is unsavory it will show you those in great pain, who live their lives in constant torment for which only death will set their souls free to begin the next life or enter into the afterlife. You can see around you now for the first time that Heaven and Hell are very real. And you can give them a release into the next life and so be able to do an act of kindness in giving in. I am asking you to think on this. As individuals make your choice. But as you do know this. If you continue to live in denial, you can not remain here. Buffy WILL find you, and she WILL take you out. That is her destiny , what she was made to do. This is her turf and she guards it with an effiency that your kind is just not able to match. THere is a reason half the Scourge of Europe has decided to fight with her instead of against her. _

_If you choose to go that path then I will remove you, physically from Sunnydale and bar anyway for you to ever be able to return. I will not risk what you could become or allow you to take from the effort to fight the War to come by forcing the Slayer to come for you. Far to much is at risk right now. I beg you to make the other choice. Don't live in ignorence! Don't put innocent lives on the line knowingly! If you want to read the accounts for yourself I will provide them for you. If Carlisle or any of you wish to speak with Giles I will have it arranged. And I will also not allow Alice to suffer for your decisions. Anything you decide is for yourself. She is to good of a person to watch waste away and I beg you to don't make her suffer your absense when she needs you the most because you choose to be selfish and think about your morals and your code when the lives of others are on the line while you are still strong and have several years left before your own battle begins. Several of you, especially Edward are at the beginning point of what she is going through right now. _

_He is to young to have gone this long. He has every thirty years and turning Bella just wasn't enough. Now if you wish I will go for now. I have put a lot on your plate but I won't apologize for going over your leader's head. Whether you know it or not my authority outranks here." a scene that he never in a million years expected to see broke out then. Carlisle refused to say anything, and he felt appalled by it! He was the one who had made the decision to keep this from the rest of the Coven, he should have the balls to own up to it! If he wanted to remain patriarch it was his responsibility to take charge of the situation, not fade into the background! This was exactly what he had been talking about after they FINALLY managed to get Aro to leave. You had to own the decisions you made when they effected the lives of the rest of your coven. He wasn't sure what he expected the other blonde to do. Yell, make a stand, reason, think of the solutions she provided, hell even throw her out, he wanted him to just do SOMETHING! Even Esme seemed to at least be thinking on her words. No one wanted to watch Alice die, and it mattered to him that Willow cared so much for a stranger she had just met. It gave him a taste of the woman who had laid it all on the line for her friends._

_It was Edward who finally broke the akward silence. "Is there no other way to save her, to save us?" she looked at him with all to understanding eyes and shook her head sadly. "I am sorry but there is no other way. I can't have you here as a potential threat when so much is already on the line. You have no idea what we are facing here and you don't want to know! But you could do us a grand favour, perhaps even help keep the town safe from the uninvolved but still very homicidal demons around to at least slow it down some while you think on it." she had a hopeful expression that caused him to soften. "You've got me, little Witch. You and I have a deal and I am not going anywhere till it is done. Whatever you need, call me. This house is in my name so I'll be here whenever you have my gem. A ring would be best, something as manly as you can make it, I don't think I could take Peter's jeers. That man I swear has this insane Jasper-dar and knows everything embarrising about me as soon as it happens and feels the desperate need of informing all of my nearest and dearest!" and he shuddered, already anticipating hearing this from his soldier and more cryptic warnings and joyful phrases that will make him want to give himself a frontal lombodomy after he skinned Peter alive! A soft and unexpected giggle came out of the witch, and he found that if she could find at least that small bit of humor, he could let it go._

"_Until I am shown there is no other way, I'll do whatever you tell me to find the others and slow this thing down. Besides you and I have got a date with those wonderful botiques I have seen around here, and I saw you and I giggling in a place called the Magic Box that was one of the most wonderful places I have ever encountered! My mate and I, we aren't going anywhere. We're going to get you through this!" he felt grateful, that somehow Willow had got through and it looked like had found a place in Alice's heart. The story she told spoke to something deep inside her and he had a feeling that they would be having a talk about what he had promised. But he would not go back on his word. She deserved her peace, and he was going to give it to her! She had given him her life, he had given her his word, he would not refuse anything she had asked, after everything she had done for the very world at large, unknown, alone, and all to often nearly dead. She had earned the right to decide her own destiny, and for once in his life Jasper wanted nothing more than to tell the Powers exactly where they could go! Whether or not she remained dead however was not set in stone. It would be a new life. They would leave both Sunnydale and Forks far behind, maybe go live with the strange but harmonius coven of both vampire and Druids that lived in the rural Scottish Highlands where neither the Volturi or the others could find them._

_After Carlisle refused to step up he had enough with the Olympic Coven. These were not the same people who had took him in all those years ago. Edward was to afraid of his own shadow, Carlisle didn't seem to know how to be anything but a leader during peacetime, and as much as he loved Rose, he knew his sister would be where Emmett chose to be. Which is why his larger brother shocked him in the most pleasant manner possible and made him want to go hug the man, something very unlike him! With a blank face he walked up to Willow, who eyed him with a bone-tiring expression which from her expression he knew Alice caught. She mouthed to him "We GOT to save her!" and he was actually in full agreement! Sure she tempted him, but her impressive power kept him in check and her desire to die made him feel sick inside now. If he had been in her place, he would feel much the same, and it wasn't like he didn't understand the sentiment. He understood all to well. Not even Alice truly understood what he went through during the Southern wars. What he had forced himself to be had also filled him with a deep self hatred. He became a utter monster and he willed, litterally willed for the Slayer of the time to find them, to leave her post long enough to put an end to the Wars and put him down where he belonged._

_Since the years gone by he had made peace with that side of himself. And now that fate and opportunity gave him the chance to redeem and give the God of War a purpose, a just War where he would be needed, truly needed, where he could finally be the hero he had once been before he had been swept into this life and give himself meaning again he could finally let go of that pain. But Willow, she was choking on her guilt, choking on the pain, and the only thing that kept her going was the fact that she was the only thing that stood between the Last Defeat and the end of the Sunnydale Hellmouth. If she was gone the Light did not stand a chance, not even with him or if all the Cullens through in with Team Slayer. He saw why Spike was so taken with her. She was one of the most beautiful people he had ever met! Geniune, utterly selfless, who had been brought low by a power that had been simply to great for her to control by herself! No matter how brilliant and strong she was, she was still just a young woman burdened with an incredible talent for magick. She was meant to be a witch, to belong to the Mother, he could feel that, he could feel her love for Her, still vibrant and strong inspite of her pain. She had natural power. And forced to weild powerful magick that young, powerful DARK magick, taking into your very core the essense of the Hellmouth in order to complete the magickal feats such as the Romany Curse that she had was going to have a price._

_The more she had been forced to use that dark magick to clean up their messes, inspite of both her and Tara warning them, the more her fall from grace was inevitable. They didn't realize that she had become to magickal, that she wasn't just meerly human anymore, and that stopping entirely was what made her waste away. She kept eatting, she forced herself to. She went through the motions of life but the spark within began to burn her, not all that different from what Alice now suffered, from the inside. She would have died if she had continued the painful path she had been on. He wondered how much this Buffy didn't know about the witch's situation. Perhaps he had misjudged her. She had a terrible burden placed upon her young shoulders and had suffered nothing but horror after worsening horror since being Called. The witch did everything she could to lessen that burden, even hide things from her. She suffered alone and in silence so that she didn't make the other girl have to share her pain when she already had so much of her own. Perhaps now that he was onboard he could talk to her alone, get her to see the price her friend paid for refusing to leave her side. If she knew the whole truth of what went on between Tara and Willow, what was happening to her while she ripped magick out of her life when it had become to late perhaps things could change. One more reason for his fellow war torn new friend to choose life._

_After all, she wasn't the only one who would need and deserve a new life after all of this! She looked at his wife with this small smile shot through with a sad nostalgia that reminded him of what it was like to be together with Peter and Charolette. It was always wonderful, bittersweet to be with the two of them. He could never go long without seeing or hearing from them. Peter was the little brother he never had, they had a kinship that started from the moment he had brought him into the fold. Maria had always called him the "Runt" and couldn't understand why Jasper had been so drawn to make him. But he always saw value in him, loved him from the first time he opened his eyes. The Wars only brought them closer and he had shared in his joy when he found his mate in Charolette. But he couldn't spend to long with the two for whom he sacraficed it all so long ago. It was to painful, even now. Though there was a peace now in his heart, he knew deep down he would always be haunted by those days. But looking into Willow's eyes showed him the price of their world. He would force her to face her past, but not alone. He made a silent vow that he would never allow her to become that isolated, that alone, filled with that much pain ever again, and smiled wondering if returning home, one look at his Red had Spike swearing the exact same thing!_

_He usually hated men like Spike, but there was something about him that resonated with him. They weren't really all that different. The strange love story between her and the Slayer was all over the supernatural underground there, and he felt his pain at the disdain the blonde showed to him and yet kept going over and over to him to "make her feel". It was sick and twisted, but it was a real love and it wasn't fair for him to keep having his love thrown into his face. When he found his Red like that, it had been the nail in the coffin. And then he began to hear things he didn't like to hear. And he didn't understand his very violent objection to it! He liked Spike, and he had a deep admiration for Willow. It was quite clear that no matter what had been their past, she had always treated him with kindness, had seen something in him that the others could not and would not allow for two seconds for the others to start turning on him in cruelty when she was around. She had explained that Spike did not chose to be as he was anymore than they did. He acted in the way that was in the nature of what he was. To willfully choose to be cruel on the other hand was unexceptable in her eyes, and to his amusement when she said that Alice nodded in her full agreement and there was a light in her eyes that said one thing: Alice was going to be playing Cupid!_

_And his beast roared against it! Even though his logical mind tried to argue that if they fell for one another, especially if he had the chance to turn her into a form of vampire that kept her soul, they deserved to find what happiness they could in one another after everything they had been through, he knew deep down that he wasn't going to allow that relationship to happen. It would make him insane and he wanted her around to much. Something didn't seem right about them being a couple. Like that wasn't what fate had decided for the two. He didn't voice it, but he knew that there would be only one woman for William the Bloody. His mate had been decided centuries ago, in the dark haired, beautiful and mad Drusilla. He didn't need Alice to know that the lovely and deadly older Seer would be coming back to town soon. She would come home to protect what was hers no matter what the price. And the thought made him actually feel better. He would like to see those two around each other, he wanted to travel with new people that were more like him that could teach him things about an ever expanding supernatural world that he needed to know. _

_When Emmett made his move, he found himself grinning like a lunatic! He again lifted the red head off the ground, twirled her around, kissed both her cheeks before letting out a playful war cry. "And miss out on a fight like that?! Not happening! I'm in. I'm SO IN! Baby, how about you?" he shot a look over his shoulder to an indulgent Rose._

_There was a light in her eyes that almost choked him up, a warm feeling emmitting out of her and reaching out to engulf Willow. "I'm not going anywhere. We are needed here. Here we can make a difference, we can make what we are mean something. I couldn't possibly turn my back on the opportunity to do something that could make me something more than the monster I have become. Something to be able to give back to the world after all that I have taken. Besides, I can't leave you here unsupervised, what would Willow think of us then! I am disturbed that we were not told about this. We all have been feeling the blood lust and its been drowning Jazz, it's no wonder why he had to be the first to go feed, with the burden of all our blood lust on top of his own to deal with! But I agree with her, we have no monoply in the monster department. There are some humans that just need to be put down, for the betterment of humanity. I'm in. And if you don't mind, I have a special piece of jewelery I would like you to use for Em and I." he shot Rose a wide grin and a wave of gratitude. He didn't know how much longer he had with the woman who had truly began to feel like the twins that they played themselves off as since they had first met, and he wanted for their remaining time together to be special, something to hold on to in a shifting world where it could be centuries before they got to see each other again._

_But that was where all the good feelings ended. "I won't do it. I can't! I swore to uphold the sanctity of human life, not destroy it! It is not my place to play God and decide who lives and who dies. We are vampires, we have no right to judge humans on their sins when we have a plethora of our own! I think its best if we all went back to where we came. I know you mean well, and I see the sincerity in your eyes to help Alice, but you, even in what you are, can't understand our life. I could not accept this and be able to continue to live with myself. I will do nothing to harm you or yours while I arrange to take us back, but I can not allow this coven to join your fight. It is your fight, not ours." Jasper shot Carlisle a withering look, but before he could begin to speak Edward jumped in. "That's right. I am sorry about everything you have been through, but you have been in this fight your whole life! This is your path to redemption, and I wish you every happiness and all the strength I could possibly send you, but it is not for us. It is not our place to meddle in the affairs of human beings and their beliefs. Carlisle is right, we should never have come here." his eyes found Willow's and his fear betrayed him, as well as how the emotions of his wife had made his decision for him. "THen that is for you to decide._

_But you Carlisle are not my master, nor my Maker. I and my wife are free to choose what path we wish to take. We came into your coven freely and accepted your leadership even when it has lead us into things that could have got us all killed. But this time where you lead I can not in good conscience follow. My place is here, here is where I make my stand, here is where my redemption lies. I love you and Esme, but this has been coming now for a long time. I wish you and Esme every happiness, and I hope to cross paths with you again when times are happier. But I can not leave this place. This is my fight and she is my friend now and I won't abandon her." he said slowly, trying to hold on to his calm. Bella's eyes widened in shock, obviously expecting him to submit to whatever Carlisle decided. He guessed now was a good time as any for her to learn that Covens were democratic. If she could cry, tears would be in Alice's eyes, but there was a look of resolve there as well. She took in a long and unneeded breath and then stood up, slowly coming to Willow's side while Emmett remained planted near by and shooting her encouraging looks that betrayed the fact that there was more to the big lug than he let on. His wife wrapped her arm around the other pixie like girl who looked at her in shock. "I told you that you and I would be great friends, and we will be. I have fought Jasper over this, I tried to prevent it, but fate is what it is._

_My place is with Willow and my husband. They need us here, they can not win this fight alone. And the price of not winning means Game Over, for ALL of us. I love you both more than I could say and I am grateful for all the happy years we have had together, but it appears Jazz was right all along. It is time for us to part ways if this is the choice you make. But I beg you to reconsider. THink about what they face. Think about who they are! Young mortals, standing alone with a handful of their own against a terrible being that would bring this world crashing down. Will you let them stand alone, or use what you have been given to fight the good fight? Even Aro would not just simply walk away, Carlisle. Even he might side with the Slayer when the world is at stake." and though the doctor looked struck by her words, he remained unmoveable. He could not allow himself to kill, not even to save the world. Edward had spent to long with the Cullens and was utterly Bella's creature now, he to just shook his head no sadly. Emmett spoke "We will join you again after we win, but I am staying. I can't stand aside and watch Jazz have all the glory when there will be so much to go around! But truly, they need us here, guys! This is our chance to do and be something truly great! We may never have a chance like this again to stand and be counted! If nothing else they are going to need someone with medical knowledge._

_You don't have to fight besides what you have to do to live. Just help take care of the wounded as they come in. Just think before we decide to quickly what we are going to do. But like Jazz said, you are not master here. It is our decision to make and my mind is made up. I'm staying until the job is done." he put a friendly hand on Willow's shoulder, chuckeling lightly when she jumped a little before shooting him a grateful grin. Rose looked profoundly dumfounded by Carlisle. She had expected him to side with the red head and join the fight for the greater good! Like he had preached before when they protected Bella. But the soft spot he had for Bella did not extend to the red head. He too feared her. He felt the dark power that raged beneath her skin, and all he wanted to do was run, put as much distance between her, him, and his beloved wife as humanly possible. But he too was in shock. He expected his family to abide by his decision regardless of what they felt about it. He clearly did not expect such a challenge from Alice and Emmett. And as much as Esme longed to heal the red head's broken heart, she would follow Carlisle wherever he went. Jasper understood and didn't grudge her that. Then something seemed to snap in Bella, so fast he didn't see it coming except for the wince in Alice's face while her grip around Willow tightened and he became worried._

_So little could destroy the beautiful woman, and he knew he would defend her with everything he had in him against any kind of attack when the newborn cracked the whip. Suddenly she moved like lightening, running for the red head who put Alice behind her and with a look put up a shield that the brunette bounced off of, sending her flying back and causing Edward to growl at the sound of her fustrated yell! "Who do you think you are?! I don't care if you are the Devil himself! You think you can just waltz in here, tell us some over blown sob story, order us into becoming your pet monsters and then, while getting others here to choose suicide because that is what this is, this War will be your deaths, and tear our family apart?! I didn't even want to come and I WARNED them that this could only end badly! Nothing and no one good comes out of California! And now here you are, the new shiny toy with a few extra tricks picked up because HE" she shot a shaking and accusing finger at himself "felt sorry for you! Well I don't! You KILLED people! You threatened a child! You brought the world to its knees and I am just supposed to trust that you are all better now and this isn't just some sick little game you contrived to play with the new demon before you find out how to kill us all?! You are a monster, and I won't allow you to force me into becoming one because you find it amusing!_

_The world would have been better off if you had died with that other bitch you LOVED so much, as if something like you could love! All we need to know guys is what she is! A witch! A devil worshipping, innocents killing, life draining, manipulative WITCH! We shouldn't even have let her in the house, for all we know she put a curse on us all! And if she has the power to end us like she says, perhaps we shouldn't let her leave this house alive! If there is even such a thing as the Slayer, she is more likely to thank us for ridding her of such a monster than anything else! I won't listen to another word she has to say, because it is all lies, and neither should you! You can't let her break up this family! We should take her out and go home! Go home before it's to late and her witch buddies sacrafice us to Lucifer!" her black eyes fixed on the reeling witch who looked like someone had ripped her apart, and it was pure shock that kept him from tearing into the brunette that was killing the most incredible person he had ever met and stealing what little life she had left. Edward was loosing the battle to hold her back and so flashed black eyes and a warning growl towards Willow who had tears leaking down her face and a hollow look in his eyes that tore through his being like an knife made of ice! He didn't know whether to rush to her side or to tear Bella in half! _

_The livid Bella, haunted and fighting against herself internally hooked onto the horrific but true words and hurled them back at the red head like ammunition. She couldn't handle her own pain for the path she chose, her guilt. Looking at a woman who put her desires aside and did the right thing over and over again while Bella had cbose herself and even right now was tearing the Wolf apart. He hoped that Willow could break the imprint on Jacob Black so that the man could have some peace. And he wondered if he could see her now if he would even want to be with her. Jazz couldn't stand the sight of her, and he knew that his bond with her, small as it was had been severed, forever! And the sight of Edward willing to go to war with anyone that tried to teach his little bitch a lesson had him loosing his respect. That was when he felt it, a fury that shook the house in its power, and it wasn't Bella. He looked over and took a long step back at the murderous look in the eyes of Rosalie Cullen! A cruel laugh bubbled out of her throat while she mockingly jestered towards Bella. "Ladies and gentleman, the real Bella Swan! The selfish little bitch that threw her humanity away like so much trash and cared nothing about anyone else but herself! You think she loves you Eddie?! She loves your "package" and the immortality you could give her, nothing more!_

_She is a hormomal teenager and you were the first good looking boy outside the Mutt to pay attention to her. She doesn't care about what she put this family through! If she did she would have left you a long time ago and went on with her life! You think it matters to her that we could have all died at Aro's hands, or Victoria's pet army? She could talk all she wanted about the greater good of Forks and destiny while it was her ass on the line, but when the REAL enemy stares her in the face, she tucks tail and RUNS! But not before tearing into someone with more backbone, more loyalty, more heart in her pinky finger then she has in her entire body! That's right sweety, you could have chose this path! You could have chose to be selfless for once in your worthless life and saved the lives of countless innocents who died because YOU could not let their lives get in the way of YOUR chance at immortality, could you? Now you look at her and wonder what it could have been like to stay with the Mutt, to have had an ounce of self respect and fought beside your friends, those people who have known you far longer than we ever did. But you aren't like her, and you never will be! Take a nice long look at her, because she is everything you could never be, even if you remained human. Because her friends lives are dear to her and they mean more to her than her own, even when they abandoned her!_

_You want to talk about liars!? What about what you did to Jacob Black?! He gave you his heart and you toyed with it and made him believe that you could actually give a damn about someone other than yourself before you ripped it out and tore it into shreds every opportunity that you got! How many times you rubbed Edward in his face, I lost count! Have you no decency, no sense of shame that you had to rub your happiness in his face like that?! You didn't even have the deceny to leave and let him try to put his life back together! We had to DRAG you! Your daughter deserves a hell of a lot better than the likes of you, and if you think you can just keep on in your perfect little world while she and everyone else suffers because Bella wants this and Bella wants that you can think again! As soon as you leave, I will be filing papers challenging your parental rights! You aren't fit to be a mother when you couldn't even handle being a mediocre human being! If you were half as righteous as you said, cared about us, you would have let us go. I can't stand the sight of you, and you won't dictate to me who I listen to or what I do with my life. I'd rather follow Willow into the Dragon's pit then spend one more minute on you. I hope one day Edward wakes up and realizes who you really are and finds a woman WORTHY of him and that Aro gets to do to you what he has wanted since the moment he laid eyes on you. Now I don't begrudge him the pleasure! I hope he sends me pictures! _

_Now, before I do something I regret or Jazz looses his battle against the beast that wants to end you right here and now, I and my brother are going for a WALK. Carlisle and Esme, I love you and wish you all the luck in the world. Edward, open YOUR EYES! Babe, Alice, I'll be back in a bit. And you, sweetheart. Don't you believe her! Not for one minute! You are an angel, words can't describe how honored I am to meet you! Nothing will make me happier then the chance to get to know you and fight beside you. Alice and I will be by tomorrow and we'll go shopping. We'll forget this whole thing and have some fun." he looked at her with utter pride and amusement while she manhandled him out of the house. Alice gave him a look that told him that she wouldn't leave the red head alone till she was sure of her safety._

Back to present

Alice had come back and took him aside telling him things that Spike told her after she explained what happened. The blonde had been furious at the state Bella put his beloved Red in, and it had taken all his willpower not to go teach the brunette all about what it meant to piss off a Master. Willow needed him more than he needed to go kill a daywalker. It was evident that they needed to leave now as soon as possible and all the sudden it felt like the next day couldn't come soon enough! As the darkness came over he couldn't help but think of her trying to patrol in the state she was in. He could feel her from miles away, and being a master at hiding her emotions he knew that Spike wouldn't be able to detect everything. He couldn't explain why he could feel her, had this ability to know her thoughts, this need to help her but it was so strong! It was Rose that came up to him, telling him the words he needed to hear to go do what he had wanted to do for hours. Her cold hand rested on his shoulder. "I won't live in a family with her in it anymore. I've talked with Emmett and he agrees after seeing what she did to Willow. It's Bella, or us. If Carlisle keeps Bella in the Coven, we won't stay. I can't say we'll join your quickly growing and disfuctional group, but I just wanted you to know. I WILL protect that woman, and I won't stand back and watch that selfish diva destroy other people anymore.

I can't do it Jazz. I saw that look, I know that look, I've BEEN that look! Alice already bonded to her, but no one, not even the Slayer can help her right now. No one but you. You have to go after her Jazz." he shot her a knowing smile. He patted her before pulling her in for a tight hug. "Thank you Rose, for everything. I love you, you know that right?" she let out a laugh. "Jasper Hale, showing his feelings? Who are you and what did you do with…" "Whitlock." he let out softly. She cocked her head at him with a strange look in her eyes. "It's Jasper Whitlock. Always was, I just wasn't ready to admit it yet. But I am now. I'm ready to remember who I am and let go of the past." he said. Though she didn't understand fully what he meant she gave him another smile. "Alright then Major, you hurry now and go take care of our witch." her tenderness towards Willow did something to him. Even his beast looked out at her with fondness and protectiveness. She would always be a sister to him. His to look after, his to protect, his to love. He sped out, not even bothering to say goodbye. All he needed to say had been said before. He had a feeling after that display that when he returned the others would be gone and he felt a strange comfort in that, even though a sadness weighted on him. Of all people he thought that Bella was a lady. That she was sweet, innocent, and didn't mean to get caught up in all of this. He would never be able to look at her the same way again. She would never be family to him again.

He stopped briefly out on the step, reaching out with his gift, his sense of smell, and following a call that spoke to his beast unknowingly. Not unlike he expected, the smell of her special stamp of power had him heading for the the cemeteries, of which there was a surprising and disturbing number. A part of her lingered in them but she was not there, but he could smell were her tear drops hit the ground and the rage in him renewed. No one deserved what she had got in their house! Especially when all she was trying to do was save Alice's life! He would never forget that, ever. He would never be able to repay the debt he now owed her for saving his wife. Anything that she needed he would give to her. It mattered nothing that he had just met her. Now nothing meant more than seeing through his promises, nothing meant more than getting her to choose life. She was forever under his protection, part of his coven. He would take care of her when Spike could not. There were some things that only he could understand about her, that she would understand about him. As he went through more and more places he grew more and more desperate. For someone trained to track both as a human and a vampire, it was disturbing when he couldn't find his target.

When he smelled her singing blood in an all to generous portion near the edge of a giant headstone he went into a panic! He began calling her name at the top of his preternatural lungs, the same as any human and racing up and down. Signs of struggle lead away from the grave stones and out towards a clearing where one headstone stood, her smell the strongest, the most recent there. When he read the stone a painful lurch went through his chest. Tara McClay. "God no, Willow please no! Willow!" he began to call. After what seemed to be an eternity and crossed a bit of ground that underneath had a rhymthnic hum that had nothing to do with the Hellmouth. He stopped and forced himself to calm, lowering himself down and putting his ear to the ground. Relief began to flood into his system when he heard music. The Crypt! Spike had a Crypt there, it would be the perfect place to hide from the world when it sought to crash down around you. He began to look for stairs, an opening and using that empathic ability to follow were the emotions felt stronger he soon found what he was looking for. He tried not to race down and knocked softly.

"Spike?" a soft, broken voice that smote him through the heart called out. "No my little Lady Witch, just me. Please let me in!" he couldn't keep the plea out of his voice and internally celebrated when she opened the door into a dreary looking place, lit with a few candles and the strong smell of where she had been sobbing on the bed and an unopened bottle that he decided that she more than deserved to have the comfort of that contained a ready-made Long Island mix. Without even asking permission or caring that they barely knew each other he pulled her close and it felt like he had suddenly come back to life, warmth flooded to every part of his body and his panicked beast finally began to calm as he rocked her for a moment, sure to not hold on to long. "We have a bit of a connection, you and I. Like we have known each other for centuries, and perhaps we have. We understand each other in ways the others just can't. And I want you to know you can come to me, call me, anything that you need whenever you need it and I don't want you to ever hesitate. You have given us more than you could ever know and Bella is far to young and nieve to understand what you have been through.

You are the best person I have ever met, and you deserve peace more than any person I could possibly think of and I will do everything in my power to see that you have it. But for now, you and I are going to forget about Bella's temper tantrum and are going to pretend we are just two college age kids doing what they shouldn't in a cemetery way past curfew. Come on, up for a little role play?" the suggestive and over exaggerated innuendo made her laugh and then cough from her dry throat while he patted her back as gently as he could. "That won't do. We have this lovely bottle of Long Island and you have a dry mouth! Lets see if Spike left us any glasses!" he said jovially, sending playful vibes through to her, causing her to raise what he later in the night came to dub as her "Oh really" eyebrow. "It was worth a shot. Come on! Let go, do something reckless and stupid, slightly selfish for once! Humor me." he said. "Well, it is drinking past curfew with a hot male in my room and not a parent to be found for miles!" she said, a slow smile beginning to peek out. "That's the spirit!" he said and began his search, laughing when he found a bunch of mugs with kittens that caused her to snort and then bust into gut wrenching laughter.

"One day I shall explain to you the plague that comes in the form of the braindead barbie that is the vampire known as Harmony. And then I shall hide you. If she sees you glitter in the sunshine your life is offically over as you know it!" a shudder went down her spine and Jasper didn't really want to know! And that went double when he saw the little S&M cross that the other vampire had kept in the corner that at his horrified expression had the red head busting out into shear hysterics. THey turned on his small television and found reruns of Monty Python, sending a child-like happiness through Willow that scared him. Scared him because of the powerful thrill that traveled through his body to see her that way and how powerful the feeling was that it was his job to make sure that she was always happy like that. She wasn't his mate, there had to be another out there for his Lady Witch, and it was that man's job to make her happy. It was the beginning of a long fight against himself for what he knew in the end was a loosing battle. But we jump ahead in our tale. It was late into the night when she finally gave in and began to drink and when she did, she took long, quick gulps, like she was trying to shoot the liquid.

Once she had gotten her head adujusted and liking the idea of getting drunk she went at it with a gusto that was slightly terrorfying! As the marathon came to an end she began to tell stories of her youth, when things were happier, and some of the more funnier demons and moments they had been forced to deal with including Sweet, the showtune demon that Jasper was pretty sure he would have torn apart just to stop the insanity! But it made for a story of epicly humourous proportions and he knew he was going to have to get her to repeat that story for Emmett's benefit later! The more he found out about her, the more he liked her and was glad fate had brought them here. She had a sweet voice when she began to hum underneath her breath. In an span of two hours she had a powerful buzz going and her courage and doubled. She turned the radio back on and pushed play, and the song that came on was one that he recongnized, one of the few songs that he and Emmett agreed upon. The instrumental began its slow melodic first notes and in the spirit and feeling wonderfully young and daring, he rose up, taking her small hand into his.

Her nose scrunching up adorably, he answered her unasked question. He pulled her close enough to whisper in her ear. "Just trust me." As he opened the door a shudder went down her spine, and he chucked it to the bit of chill that swept into the crypt. He barred the door open so that the music wafted out while he pulled her up the steps. Reaching the grass he took in the sight of the moonlight reflecting off her hair and those spellbinding eyes. No man needed to tell him the treasure he beheld and if any man or woman broke her heart like that again, he would kill him. Period. Because she was beautiful, kind, strong, and powerful and deserved to be worshipped by anyone lucky enough to date her and the absolute loyalty of anyone lucky enough to call her a friend. And he wanted to dance with her. He let go of her hand, took a step back, and bowed like he had been taught in another lifetime. "I would be honored to have this dance." he said. He was impressed by the proper return curteosy and proud of himself when that small little smile that had graced him the night before when he made his promise lit up her face.

"And I would be honored to dance with such a fine gentleman." she said, no trace of teasing or playing in her voice now. He came back in and placed his arms around her, pulling her in close. Only on reflection, when they laughed at how they fought that powerful mutual attraction in the room with Alice and Angel did he realize he wanted to get close without pulling to close. To feel her there in his arms without judgement. But at the time all he knew was that he felt peace for the first time in his life since he had been turned. His beast laid down inside him with contentment, and they moved in harmony, rather remarkable for those who just met and the idea that they had known one another in another life became more and more of a real possibility for him. He would twirl her away from him just to hear her laugh and feel the slamming warmth of her when he pulled her in another spin back to him. And he began to wonder if he was the one who was buzzed, because both of them laughed at themselves and he felt absolutely intoxicated with the moment. Finally the long song ended, and inspite of the laughter both of them were brought back to who and what they were by the few lyrics spoken.

He felt his hold tighten when she said "She's home now. She has to be. If Buffy went to Heaven, Tara is there now." she said it with such utter conviction that he believed it himself. A raw pain went through him and he felt himself wishing he could have come earlier, could have been near that window, blocked that bullet. But of all the gifts they had, Tara had been meant to go. He whispered "She is, and she wants to see you like this. See you smiling, and dancing, and even shopping with the mall bitch from hell!" she swatted at him, making him dodge. "Your wife is a FINE woman I will have you know and I'll gladly endure her torture if I get to spend a little more time in her beautiful presence!" and he couldn't resist. "She is rather beautiful, should I be concerned?" and she busted out into laughter. "Like you would mind! You would want to participate!" she shot. "I am a male my Lady Witch, and you are two very beautiful women. You can't blame me for that. If you don't believe me, ask Spike when you get home." she snorted before eyeballing him. "Speaking of home, you go see to your bride and give her my best! My escort home will be arriving shortly. Think Spike will ask me for a dance?"

He felt it again but pushed it aside and gave her a look that sent foreboding into both of them. "Any man in his right mind would beg on his knees to dance with you." he kissed her forehead. "Promise me you won't leave the Crypt till he's there?" he said. She was just drunk enough to not argue. "Done. Thank you Jasper. For the dance, and understanding." she said seriously. "Anyday, any time, any hour darlin'. Just promise you won't hesistate." he said before walking off. As he got closer to the house he was smiling to himself. He had quite the amazing new friend in the red head. He was going to make sure he did nothing stupid to push her away. Being his singer thrilled him, and yet the call of her blood wasn't as strong as the call of her friendship. He was laughing by the time he got to the door, thinking of her outing with the terrrible duo the next day. But then again, what were stormy days for?

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I like the idea of his mistaking the compaionship between Willow and Spike as something more, and being relieved for reasons he doesn't yet know by Alice's visions of Spike's TRUE mate which in my head is always Drusilla. I might even have Spike who knows whats going on the whole time push Jasper into making a move by openly and heavily hitting on and acting with romantic gestures towards our lovely witch after Alice watches them interact when they think no one is watching in that sparing session and realizing that the witch is his mate and she needs to tell him the truth about their relationship (vision) she puts space between them and acts to help Angel when a vision regarding him pops up. That's right, Spike is going to play Cupid to see that his Red is properly taken care of by someone he is going to groom himself so that he is worthy of his Family.

It's going to be an interesting little coven later. SPOILER ALERT: Coven will be- Willow, Jasper, Spike, Dru, Rosalie and Emmett. Alice will remain close to the red head and Jasper will be able to forgive her as his strong feelings for Willow begin to overcome any since of wrong doing on her part and they will become friends put after all Angel has LA and Wolfram and Hart to look after. As reinforcements are needed as they learn more and more about what is coming, Alice reaches out to Billy Black who sees it as an opportunity to get Jacob out of Forks and the Wolves the opportunity they have been looking for since the Cullens left and they kept their powers. Jacob names the price as severing him from his imprint, being rather bitter that even after he finally imprinted on her, Bella still chose Edward. This is not a Bella friendly tale. She knew the price and still left Jake. But Jake imprints again on a woman who actually needs him and when his eyes land on Faith Lehane he decides this time he was going to do whatever it takes to get the girl, no matter whether she thinks she is worthy and tries to spare him of her or not! Jacaith is born! :D 


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